Beauty and the Beast
by JennyHart
Summary: It was a tale as old as time… and Stiles and Derek played the parts perfectly. Stiles was the young beauty who loved his father more than anything. Derek was the man whose life had turned beastly because of his past. They didn't start out as friends, but slowly they found their ideas of each other changing. Canon divergent after the Hale fire and features Alive!Laura.


Notes:

I wrote this summary a while ago and always wanted to make it into a long story. The concept was written pre-season 3 and therefore leaves out most of the elements introduced since then (including Derek/Paige). The first few chapters deal with events right after the Hale fire before jumping to present day where it will take some of the elements from the Disney movie of the same title (but not the Stockholm Syndrome because that's not cool).

* * *

Derek had a plan and he was certain that it was going to be a success.

All week he had been working on his parents to let him skip their annual family reunion- or at least the first part of it. He had enlisted Peter and Laura to help plead his case, and he just knew that his parents were about to crack. In a fit of optimism, Derek woke up early and went looking for his parents. He found his mom making breakfast for the family that had flown in the previous night.

"What are you doing up so early?" His mom asked him when he entered the kitchen, curious on why a teenager would wake up early when he was allowed to skip school and sleep in.

"I was hoping that you and dad had talked some more about me skipping the meeting this year." Derek told her as he got out the silverware for his mom. "It's my junior year and I have to do well on the SAT so I can join Laura at Berkley."

Before Talia could answer, Derek's father walked into the room and moved to kiss his wife. Normally this would have prompted some sort of complaining from Derek, but he held back because he didn't want to annoy his parents when they were possibly close to caving.

Wanting to get the conversation back to his request, Derek voiced his arguments again. "I'll still be able to go to dinner tonight and all of the stuff this weekend. Today could make a really big difference for my future."

His mom looked at his dad before turning back and answering Derek, "We're going to miss you at the meeting today, but if you think that going to school today will help you that much, then you can go." A smile spread all of the way across Derek's face at his parents' agreement. He ran to give them a hug before accepting a piece of bacon from his mom and heading for the front door. Before he made it out, he saw a tangle of long dark hair fly down the stairs and stop in front of him.

"Where are you going?" His younger sister demanded of him. Derek finished up his bacon before he answered.

"To school, I'll have to skip the first of the festivities today."

Cora rolled her eyes at him, a habit that unfortunately ran in his family. "But you have an excuse to skip school today. Gosh, that girl is making you stupid!" Derek's eyes widened in panic but Cora was already walking into the kitchen. He slipped out of the house and into his new Camaro, hoping his parents wouldn't have heard what Cora said. Derek listened intently but couldn't hear any upset exclamations, so he figured he was safe and left for school to see his girlfriend Katie.

Katie was the real reason that he wanted to go to school so badly. He hadn't been lying about the SAT prep class, but he may have stretched the importance of it a little bit for his parents' sake. To some extent, Derek could understand their protectiveness, with their being mythological creatures and everything, but Derek didn't see why they wouldn't let him date until he was 18. He knew that they were just trying to protect him and innocent people in case he lost control of his shifts, but Derek thought the concern was unnecessary. He loved Katie and would never hurt her; of that much he was certain.

* * *

When Derek got to school, he couldn't find Katie at the outdoor tables where they normally met, but he figured that she was probably inside talking to their track coach about their next meet. He was a little annoyed by this because he wouldn't be able to see Katie until after his morning SAT class, and he almost changed his mind about skipping school. But then he remembered the free period that they had together after lunch and private boat house that he had found the previous week, and he figured that it might be worth it to stay.

After a long and painful morning of studying vocab lists and trigonometry, Derek was more than ready to see Katie at lunch. When he got through the cafeteria line, he saw his friends at his normal table but no Katie. His frown deepened as he walked over and sat down at the table.

"Is Katie here today?" Derek turned and asked Katie's best friend Emily who had first period with her.

Emily shook her head. "I texted her to ask her if she was okay and apparently her parents got into another really bad fight this morning and she didn't want to deal with it. She said that she was going to stay with her brother in Seattle for a few days."

Derek couldn't believe that she hadn't told her about this. Sure, she probably couldn't have come and stayed with him, but he still could've done something! Derek went quickly from annoyed to concerned, fired off a quick text to Katie asking her if she was okay, and spent the rest of lunch worrying about her.

He still hadn't gotten an answer from her by the end of lunch and was debating skipping the rest of his classes as he walked into history. He was in too much of a daze to pay attention to the teacher's lecture on Ancient Greek battle tactics until a knock on the classroom door knocked him out of his stupor. His teacher, Ms. Grant, curiously went to the door and opened it to find a somber looking sheriff's deputy.

"Can I speak to you outside for a moment?" the deputy asked. Ms. Grant agreed and stepped out into the hallway.

"What's the matter John?" she asked. She had gotten to know the deputy from church functions and PTA meetings with his wife.

John hesitated as if he was unsure on how to continue. "It's one of your students. A fire broke out at his house this morning and it doesn't look good. Right now it looks like several people were trapped inside but we're still not sure how many."

Ms. Grant gasped. "Oh no! Which student?"

"It was the Hale house."

Derek Hale, Ms. Grant realized, oh that poor boy. She had taught Laura too and had gotten to known his parents a little bit from parent-teacher conferences and recognition events. They seemed to be a very close family and very supportive of each other. She couldn't believe that this was happening.

John could tell that he had upset Helen with his news, but he didn't have time to wait patiently for her to collect herself. "Can you call him out of your class and then maybe say something to the kids after he leaves? I don't want them to think that he's being arrested or anything."

After a moment's hesitation, Helen answered, "Of course." After that she seemed to transform herself before John's eyes. She squared her shoulders, wiped away her tears, and got back into "teacher mode" before opening back up the door.

Of course, the kids inside were running wild and no one was in their seats, but Ms. Grant ignored them so that she could locate Derek. She was surprised to find him still in his seat, almost deathly still. She walked up to him but he didn't respond until she put a hand on his shoulder. "Derek, can you take your things and come with me. Deputy Stilinski needs to speak with you."

Instead of being confused or surprised like Helen assumed he would be, Derek barely reacted as he picked up his books. He seemed to already be in shock, though Ms. Grant chalked that up to her misimagining the situation because she was already aware of the news. She guided him out of the classroom to John and then went back inside to get her classroom back under control.

* * *

Though Derek had gotten the lecture many times from his parents on respecting other people's privacy, he still had curiously listened in to the conversation happening on the other side of the door.

It didn't take long for the conversation to leave the category of interesting and enter into the category of horrific. "A fire broke out…it doesn't look good…trapped inside…Hale house" At that, Derek's mind seemed to freeze as he sat in shock at what he'd just heard. The deputy must be mistaken, Derek tried to reason, how could a fire trap a house full of werewolves? Derek didn't even notice Ms. Grant reenter the room and walk up to him until he felt her hand on his shoulder. He obeyed her numbly as she led him out of the class and to the waiting deputy.

The deputy was silent for a few moments. Derek figured that he was trying to come up with something to say.

"Derek, well, I," the Deputy sputtered around for a second when he finally started talking. "Something's happened. A fire broke out at your house this morning." The deputy stopped and Derek realized that he was probably waiting for his reaction. His parents had drilled into him countless times the importance of appearing human, of reacting like a human, but Derek was having trouble applying the lesson. "Derek?" the deputy asked in concern.

Derek was finally able to pull himself back to reality. "What about my parents, sister, the rest of my family staying there today?" He asked in desperation, hoping that the deputy would soothe his fears even with the knowledge that he wouldn't

"We're not sure yet how many people were in the house or who got out." The deputy answered. "I know that your uncle is in critical condition in the hospital." Derek tried to process this information but the deputy kept speaking. "We're trying to contact your older sister too. In the meantime, you can come with me to back to your house to wait for more news if you'd like.

Derek nodded, wordless again. The deputy gave him a sad smile and led him out of the school and into his waiting cruiser.

Once they were in the car, the deputy got out his police radio to radio in his position.

"This is Deputy Stilinski. Sheriff Todd, do you copy?"

"Yes, you can report in," came a crackly reply from the radio.

"I have Derek Hale with me and we're on our way back to the scene."

No." The Sheriff's reply came in too quickly. "Don't take him back here. Take him over to the hospital for now until we can give him an update."

The deputy's brow furrowed at this, but he agreed to it and signed off, only then putting the car in gear and driving off.

"Sorry Derek about the change of plans. We'll let you know as soon as we know anything." The deputy addressed him on the way to the hospital.

"How can you not know anything? There were 11 people in that house!" Derek finally burst out.

"Oh shit… there were that many people inside?" The deputy was shocked. The knot at the bottom of his stomach grew larger as he realized the true devastation of the fire.

"Yeah, it was our annual family reunion. I begged out of it cause I wanted to see my girlfriend instead." Derek mumbled into the window. The deputy could already hear the guilt creeping into Derek's voice. More than anything, John wished that he knew something to say to help Derek out, but there really was nothing that could fix this.

They spent the rest of the car ride in silence til they made it to the hospital, a place that John was achingly familiar with. John was on a first name basis with some of the nurses, so he pulled one over to ask about Derek's uncle.

"Pam, I'm here with the family of Peter Hale. Is there any news on him?"

"I'm afraid that he's in surgery right now and there's no timeline for when he'll be out." The nurse told him, trying to send a smile at the deputy and the upset teenager. "There's a private waiting room you can use if you'd like to wait for more news."

After dragging Derek here out of his own will, John felt obliged to at least hear his opinion at this. "Derek, would you like to wait here? We can't go to your house yet, but I guess we can wait at the police station or something."

For the longest time, Derek just stared at him. Finally, he spoke up. "Here is fine."

They ended up in a small and quiet room that was littered with old magazines and uncomfortable chairs. Derek picked one of the better ones and sat down without saying anything and the deputy followed his lead.

About 15 minutes after they'd settled into the room, the deputy turned to Derek and asked him, "Do you mind if I step out for a few minutes to make a phone call?" Derek shook his head that he didn't care.

The deputy only went a few feet out of the door to make the call, and Derek found himself using his new habit of eavesdropping. After a minute, Derek could tell that it was his wife that he was calling, which made him almost not bother listening in.

"I'm almost done for today. How about you?" a muffled women's voice was saying.

"Today's not been a good day. I'm actually just a few floors above you in the surgery wing." John said. A loud gasp came from the phone, which John hurried to reassure. "It's not me, I'm okay. Have you heard about the huge Hale fire yet?" "What? No, I hadn't. I've been here all day and I've just been reading." His wife answered. John went on, "Well, I had to pull the son out of school and I'm waiting here with him now because Rick doesn't know what else to do with him. He texted me to keep him here as long as possible because they've started bringing out bodies."

Derek froze and lost track of the conversation. His wolf, which had been threatening to appear all day, fought past his control and to the surface. It wanted more than anything to just get out of there but the deputy was still blocking the door. Even upset, Derek was still trained well enough to not out the supernatural world. Knowing that he needed to shift back and finding himself unable to, Derek did the only thing that he knew would turn him back. He dug his claws into his own side, aiming for the most painful spots.

It didn't take long for the pain to return him to normal, but now he had to deal with the blood of 10 claw wounds. The deputy was still preoccupied with his phone call, so he kept his hands on his stomach and made a run for the bathroom.

When Derek ran by clutching his stomach, John hurriedly hung off the phone. Derek heard him hesitate by the door and then knock a few seconds later.

"Derek, are you okay?" the deputy asked in concern.

After wiping away the blood with a paper towel, Derek could see that his skin was already knitting itself back together. The only problem now was the blood staining his t-shirt.

"Derek?" Came another call from the deputy.

This time Derek answered, "I just felt sick all of a sudden." Then he had an idea. It was a little humiliating but that was the least of the problems that Derek currently had. He took his stained shirt off and balled it up so that the bloodstains were hidden. Then he used the acting classes that his mom had given him and walked out of the bathroom door looking as pitiful as possible.

When Derek came out of the bathroom, John couldn't even handle how miserable this kid looked. He didn't think that he had ever felt more sorry him. He was a bit perplexed why he wasn't wearing a shirt though.

"Um, would you mind getting me a new shirt from somewhere?" Derek hesitantly asked the deputy. "I was worried about my family and I just felt sick all of a sudden…"

"Sure." The deputy agreed. "Will you be okay for a few minutes while I go find one?"

Derek hadn't been well enough trained in acting to wipe the glare from his face at the question. After the deputy left, he threw his old t-shirt into a nearby trashcan and went to sit back down in the waiting room. As he sat waiting, he did his best to ignore the reason that he had wolfed out in the first place. But as hard as he tried, the words kept coming back to him.

He was seconds from losing it again when the door to the waiting room opened. Derek was surprised to see a woman instead of John.

"I'm John's wife Claudia." The women introduced herself. "Do you know where John is?"

Derek perhaps waited a second too long to answer as he stared at her.

When Derek was very young, he had once asked his mom why certain people smelled different than normal. It was the first time that his mom had sat him down and explained some of the powers of werewolves and some of the heartbreak attached to it. Derek had cried for hours when he learned that those people were very sick with something called cancer.

This memory came back to him as he stared at Claudia because she was very sick. It would have been obvious to him from the smell even if she wasn't wearing a headscarf. Even worse, Derek could tell from her scent that the chemo wasn't working. She was dying.

Eventually, Derek realized that he was being awkward and decided to answer her.

"Sorry, he'll be back soon." Derek's voiced wavered just a little bit as he answered, something that he would never admit to anyone.

Claudia didn't seem fazed by Derek's weirdness. Derek figured that she was probably used to stares by now.

"Do you mind if I wait here for him? I'd like to talk to him before I leave." Claudia said. Derek told her that he didn't mind and she took the seat beside him.

When she sat down, she started rummaging around in her purse. After a few seconds, she pulled a Tupperware container out and opened it. A heavenly smell wafted out of it that temporarily made Derek forget that he was in the hospital.

Claudia smiled and offered him the tin. "Would you like one? People with cancer make the best brownies."

Derek almost smiled. "I doubt that these have any pot in them." He said as he took one.

"You're right," Claudia laughed, "but they do have fudge!"

The brownies were even better than his mom's. The thought sobered him up immediately as he began to feel incredibly guilty. Not about the brownies, but the fact that Derek had lied to her that morning. The guilt felt like another wolf inside him clawing his way out.

"Derek, how are you doing?" Claudia must have noticed his change in feelings. Derek figured that she was probably a mom too and somehow this made Derek feel comfortable enough to answer truthfully.

"I just want this to be over. And I want my mom" And for the first time that day, Derek felt tears run down his face. Claudia wordlessly reached over and pulled him into a hug. This made him want his mom even more, forcing the tears to come even faster.

Derek cried into her shoulder for a few minutes until he was able to force himself to stop. As Derek pulled back, he noticed again just how sick she looked. Apart from her hair, she just seemed so fragile and tired. More than anything, Derek wanted to help her, to take away her sickness. He couldn't do anything permanent but he could help her for a little while.

He reached out and clasped her hand, "Thank you." He told her and gave her back something for the way that she had helped him. She made him feel a little safer and she also hadn't ogled him at all even though he had been shirtless for their whole exchange.

It didn't take long after that for the deputy to return with a shirt. He didn't seem too surprised to find his wife there, which made Derek wonder if Claudia had really been trying to find the deputy or if she had been sent to talk to him.

"I went out to Claudia's jeep and found an extra shirt of mine." This confirmed Derek's hypothesis. The deputy had to have talked to her again if he went out to her car. Derek found that he didn't really mind though. The deputy handed him the shirt, which advertised for a sports team that he didn't root for. "It may be a little big but it's clean." Derek gratefully slipped it on and then set back down as the deputy went to talk with his wife.

"How are you feeling today?" "Surprisingly good. I was feeling really tired but now I feel a lot better." The deputy gave her a huge smile that Derek suspected was only reserved for his wife. Claudia smiled too before telling him, "I'm going to go pick up Stiles from school and spend time with him while I feel so good." "I'll probably be home late so you two have fun." The deputy then kissed her before she left, though not before waving goodbye to Derek.

The next hour was spent without incident, with the deputy reading through all of the crappy magazines in the room and Derek ignoring when he made delightful puns to fill the silence. Derek sighed in relief when the deputy's police radio finally went off again.

"Stilinski here." He answered quickly.

"John, Laura Hale just arrived in town and is on her way to the police station. Can you bring Derek to meet her?" The deputy threw a sideways glance at Derek, who nodded that he wanted to go. Anything to leave the hospital.

"We'll head over there now." The deputy signed off and stood up. Derek followed his lead.

Derek was so focused on getting to Laura that he was slightly confused when the deputy stopped a nurse on the way out

"Sherri, we have to leave, but can you give us an update on Peter Hale?"

The nurse knew that she wasn't delivering good news. "They're almost done with surgery now but there was extensive soft tissue damage from the fire. He has second and third degree burns covering a good part of his body and that should take a while to heal. I'm sorry, that's all I know as of now." The nurse ended apologetically.

John looked over sympathetically to Derek, who had turned away from him when he heard the prognosis, concentrating on the wall ahead of him to stop his emotions. He didn't want to think about the baseball games, the wrestling matches, the relentless teasing, and he really didn't want to think about Peter's wife and kids. Oh God. This was the first definite bad news he'd had confirmed and he knew that it was just the beginning.

Derek felt like he was drowning.


End file.
